Thalidomide victim gets multi-million dollar settlement
DPA
An Australian woman born without arms and legs 50 years ago after her mother took the drug Thalidomide during pregnancy on Wednesday won a multi-million-dollar court settlement.

Lynette Rowe’s class-action victory in the Victorian Supreme Court will likely lead to more than 100 similar settlements with Thalidomide victims.

Ms. Rowe sued German pharmaceutical company Gruenenthal GmbH, its local distributor The Distillers Company, and Diageo Scotland Ltd, which took over Distillers in 1997, for the crippling effects on her of her mother taking Thalidomide to treat morning sickness.

The settlement reached with London-based Diageo provides for around 130 other Thalidomide victims to receive compensation.

Gruenenthal, which argued unsuccessfully in the Melbourne court that the case should be heard in Germany, is not part of the settlement with Ms. Rowe and her fellow Australian claimants.

The case against Gruenenthal will be taken up again in August 2013 unless there is an out-of-court settlement before then.

Peter Gordon, Ms. Rowe’s lawyer, called on Gruenenthal to take responsibility for what he termed the “world’s most publicized pharmaceutical disaster.” He alleged the company had “never tested the drug on pregnant animals or followed up its effect in pregnant women yet assured doctors the drug was exceptionally safe.” Ms. Rowe’s parents, who are in their 70s, said the compensation, a “multi-million-dollar amount,” was more than adequate for their daughter’s care.

“It’s great that my case will bring about good things for other people too,” Ms. Rowe said in a statement. “You don’t need arms and legs to change the world. Like I always say: see the person not the disability.”

The World Today
By Sarah Farnsworth and Simon Lauder
Updated July 18, 2012 16:14:12

Photo: Victory: Lynette Rowe (AAP: Julian Smith)

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Map: Melbourne 3000
A Melbourne woman has won a multi-million-dollar legal fight against the company responsible for distributing the controversial Thalidomide drug in Australia.

Lynette Rowe, 50, took legal action against German drug company Grunenthal along with the Distillers company and UK firm Diageo which were responsible for marketing Thalidomide in Australia.

Ms Rowe was born with no arms or legs after her mother took Thalidomide to treat morning sickness and anxiety during her pregnancy.

Today she was in tears as the announcement of the settlement was made in the Victorian Supreme Court.

The decision means Ms Rowe will get compensation and be provided with care for the rest of her life.

The decision will come as a relief to her ageing parents, who were worried about what would happen to her after they were no longer able to provide care.

Her father Ian Rowe paid tribute to his daughter after the court hearing, saying he and his wife Wendy were proud of what she had achieved.

"You don't need arms and legs to change the world," he said.

"The first thing I want to say is that Wendy and I are tremendously proud of Lyn; the things that she has achieved are absolutely amazing.

"Lyn has always accepted her disabilities with grace and dignity and she has never allowed herself to be defined by what she doesn't have."

It has taken 50 years for the family to win recognition of the role the drug played in Ms Rowe's disabilities and to win compensation.

Ian and Wendy Rowe are now in their late 70s and Mr Rowe admits caring for their daughter is not getting any easier.

"Most children get away from their parents at some point, but Lyn has been stuck with us for more than 50 years," he said.

"Obviously Wendy and I are getting a bit - only a bit - older and finding it harder and harder to give Lyn the full-time care she needs. So this settlement has come just in time for us too.

"This has been a long journey for everyone in our family and in our extended family.

"Those Thalidomide pills that Wendy and thousands of other women took many years ago caused so much heartache and suffering, but at least something positive is now being done to put some things right."

More claims expected

Lyn has always accepted her disabilities with grace and dignity and she has never allowed herself to be defined by what she doesn't have.

Ian Rowe

Ms Rowe wept as her father spoke to the media, but her battle may be far from over.

Only the companies responsible for distributing the drug in Australia and New Zealand have settled the class action.

The court was told no settlement has yet been reached with Thalidomide's maker Grunenthal.

Diageo PLC bought Distillers, which was licensed to sell the drugs in Australia and New Zealand in the 1960s, in 1997.

The company has also agreed to negotiate compensation for the 100 other people affected by the drug who are part of the class action.

Many more are expected to come forward to make claims against the company.

Melbourne lawyer Peter Gordon worked on the claim and said he was delighted with the outcome, particularly for those who have lived with terrible injuries their entire lives.

"You know for Lynette and a lot of other people to know that there was a cause and this was the cause, quite beyond the financial aspect of it, is just enormously psychologically satisfying for them," he said.

Lives and families were wrecked as person after person were told that they weren't thalidomiders, that instead this was some freak of nature, an aberration, with no explanation whatsoever.

Melbourne lawyer Peter Gordon

Mr Gordon has called on Grunenthal to take responsibility for the "Thalidomide disaster" which had affected people around the world.

"These are... the defences that she has faced over the last 12 months: 'You want to fight us? You come to Germany and fight us on our home ground in German courts'," he said.

"Or 'your claim's too late, you should have thought of this and done something about it when you were eight years old'.

"Or 'you want to know about what we knew? Here are 2 million old documents in German, you go ahead and try and make sense of them'."

Mr Gordon said he was in contact with more than 100 others in New Zealand and Australia who will also seek to settle compensation with Diageo.

"Thalidomide is, of course, the greatest pharmaceutical disaster in history. It happened in 1958-1961. And, think about it, by the time its victims were adults they had either had other people settle up their legal rights when they were children, or they were told by then they were just too late, the legal time limit had run out," he said.

"While those time limits were running out back in the 1960s, doctors, who knew no more about Thalidomide effects on an unborn child than I do about quantum mechanics, were presenting themselves as medical experts to the world and playing God on who was a thalidomider and who wasn't.

"Lives and families were wrecked as person after person were told that they weren't thalidomiders, that instead this was some freak of nature, an aberration, with no explanation whatsoever.

"Mothers who said that they believed they took Thalidomide were not believed and families were left to battle it out without compensation, without support for 50 years."

If other compensation claims fail, the matter will return to court next year when lawyers will try to force Grunenthal to pay compensation.